UPDATED – US Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs, offering hope to countries such as South Africa

The United States Supreme Court ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump did not have the authority to implement the punitive tariffs he imposed last year on countries he accused of ripping off his country in trade, including South Africa.

Trump had argued that Congress delegated to him an extraordinary power in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on any products he wanted, from any countries he chose.

“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs. We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution,” the Supreme Court said in Friday’s ruling, which surprised many given that the bench is dominated by conservative judges aligned to Trump’s Republican party.

“Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs.”

The judgement offered a hint of relief for countries like South Africa, which Washington slapped with a 30% import tariff from last August. But in a media briefing broadcast live shortly after the ruling, Trump suggested he would find alternatives to replace the struck tariffs.

“Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic. They’re dancing in the streets. But they won’t be dancing for long, that I can assure you,” he said.

He said he would sign an executive order to impose a 10% global tariff using this alternative method “over and above our normal tariffs already being charged”.

When the tariffs kicked in last August, Pretoria said they would effectively shave 0.4% off South Africa’s economic growth and eradicate 30 000 jobs. As a response, the government said it would implement a temporary employer relief scheme funding for affected companies through the department of employment and labour. 

The tariffs came amid deteriorating diplomatic relations between the US and South Africa, partly over Trump’s false accusations of a white genocide targeting mainly Afrikaners. The two countries are also on opposing sides of the divide in relation to Israel’s war on Gaza.

*This story has been updated with Trump’s comments